Throw Your Arms Around Me
by alygator86
Summary: Mark and Teddy angst then fluff. Established relationship.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: All belongs to Shonda

Rating: K+

Mark and Teddy angst then fluff. Established relationship.

Thanks to Phoebe and Marion for listening to the idea and helping out. Phoebe rocks for betaing!

* * *

Teddy stared at the negative pregnancy test on the bathroom counter next to the sink and sighed. Of course it was negative. It was always negative. She tossed the white stick in the trash, washed her hands, and left the bathroom.

She went to the living room and plopped down on her extremely comfortable couch next to Arizona.

"So?" prompted the pediatric surgeon.

"Negative," Teddy replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "Just like the time before and the time before that and the – "

"Yes, yes," Arizona cut her off before she could keep going. "But sometimes it can take a while for these things to happen."

"We've been trying since before we got married," Teddy sighed.

"And you've been married for a little over a year. I know you really want a baby but it takes time." She put her glass on the coffee table in front of the couch and when she sat back she noticed Teddy wiping her eyes. Arizona softly rubbed her best friend's arm. "It's ok. You'll have a baby."

"But what if I don't?" She sniffed. "What if he only married me because I want kids too?"

Arizona leaned over and hugged her. "Mark loves you. He married you because he loves you."

Mark arrived home at that point. He dropped his keys in the basket by the front door and they jingled when they hit Teddy's keys that were already in the basket. He made his way to the living room of the house he and Teddy had bought after they got married.

When he got to the living room he saw Arizona hugging Teddy, who he could hear sniffling.

"What's going on?" he asked, concerned. "Is everything ok?"

Arizona pulled away and gave him a smile. "She just needs to talk to you. She'll be fine."

Arizona gently rubbed Teddy's shoulder before getting up. She looked pointedly at Teddy. "Talk to him. And call me later."

Teddy nodded. "I will. See you later."

Mark took Arizona's spot on the couch while the cheery blonde grabbed her purse and headed out, leaving them to talk.

Teddy leaned her head back against the back of the couch and took a deep breath.

Mark sat sideways on the couch to face her, his arm resting on the back of the couch. "Are you ok, baby?" he asked, trying to figure out what was wrong. If it was anything PTSD related, Arizona would have called him and she rarely had any flair ups as it was.

"Yes," she replied automatically then shook her head. "No."

He reached over just a little bit to run his fingers through her hair. "Tell me what's wrong," he asked softly, wanting to be able to fix whatever it was.

She turned her head to look at him. "I'm not pregnant," she replied quietly, tears prickling the corners of her eyes again. "I'm still not pregnant and I want to be and I know you want me to be and I'm not. A year and a half and nothing and I don't want you to leave me," she rambled, slightly irrationally, a few tears sliding down her cheeks.

Mark pulled her into a hug, wrapping his arms around her. Her arms wrapped around his neck as she buried her face in his neck. He run a hand up and down her back soothingly.

"It'll happen, Teddy." He dropped a soft kiss onto her shoulder. "We're both a little older so that makes it harder. If you want, we can get fertility tests to see if there's anything going on there. And if there is, we'll deal with it. There's IVF, fertility treatments, even adoption. So somehow we'll have a baby, ok?"

She nodded and pulled back slightly to wipe her eyes again, feeling a little embarrassed about how she reacted. He took the opportunity to took into her eyes and have her look into his.

"And I am not leaving you," he told her fiercely, cupping her cheek. "I married you so that I could spend the rest of my life with you, good or bad. I love you. I'll love you even if we don't have any kids. You're all I need. And if we have a baby that's just icing on the cake," he smiled at her.

She smiled back, not as widely as he smiled, her fingers playing with the hairs at the back of his neck. "I'm sorry I –"

He cut her off with a soft, sweet kiss. The kind of kiss he knew could make her brain turn to mush when she was thinking too hard about things. He slowly pulled away after a few moments.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. Everyone needs to have a little melt down now and then." He brushed a piece of hair behind her ear. "I want you to stop stressing about the baby thing for now, ok? If it happens in the next few months, that will be amazing but if not, we'll deal with it."

"You're pretty amazing, you know that?" She gave him a big smile.

He grinned, knowing she was agreeing to stop stressing out. "So I've been told."

"How did I get lucky enough to have you?" Teddy asked, still smiling. He knew exactly what to say or do to make her feel better and she still wondered how he did it, after two and a half years of being together.

"Well, you see, Cristina needed a cardio god…" He chuckled when she giggled and playfully pushed his shoulder.

"I love you," she told him with a smile, the tips of her fingers running over his cheek.

"I love you, too."


	2. Chapter 2

So, I had to continue it. Thanks to Pheebs for the beta!

* * *

A few months passed, Teddy had stopped stressing out about getting pregnant, stopped taking a pregnancy test every month and put it in the back of her mind.

A flu went around the hospital, hitting both her and Mark – along with everyone else. He got over it quicker than she did and was great about taking care of her.

The third day of being sick, still, after Mark had gotten better, Teddy realized it was only bad in the morning. She got dressed late one morning and headed to work, not wanting to spend another day at home, feeling better for the rest of the day.

"Hey!" Cristina greeted her from her spot at the nurses' station, working on charts. Owen was engrossed in his own work next to her.

Owen's head popped up to see whom his wife was talking to.

"Oh hey," he greeted as well. "Finally feeling better?"

"Hey," Teddy replied giving them both a smiled as she sat at one of the computers. "Yeah, it's managed to keep itself contained to first thing in the morning."

"Really?" Cristina asked, intrigued. "Mine just went away. Owen's, too."

Owen nodded his agreement.

Teddy shrugged. "I hate you, then," she laughed. "But at least I can eat."

"Eating was the best part about getting better," raved Cristina.

"Oh, I know!" agreed Teddy, "And I'm starving now but I'll throw up again in the morning."

Owen's pager went of and he said a quick 'bye' to the two before going to answer it.

Once he was gone, Cristina slid down the counter closer to Teddy and leaned over, closer to her, for a little privacy.

"Are you pregnant?" she asked quietly.

"What?" Teddy looked at her like she had two heads. "No. I mean we've been trying –"

"When was your last period?" Cristina questioned.

Teddy looked at the calendar on the computer screen trying to figure it out. She shook her head and looked at Cristina again.

"I can't be pregnant because for over a year it didn't happen," she told her student, and herself, not wanting to have false hope.

"Have you been unusually tired during the day?"

"Yeah, but I just had the flu," Teddy tried to explain.

Cristina ignored the second part of Teddy's answer. "Have you been moody and irritable?"

"PMS," Teddy countered.

"Yeah, whatever," Cristina scoffed moving around to Teddy's side of the desk area. "Come with me."

Teddy closed out of the schedule and stood up, "Where are we going?"

Cristina pulled her arm as she headed down the hall, "To prove that I'm right."

Cristina had just picked up the results of the blood test for Teddy when she ran into Arizona.

"Good. I need you to come with me," Cristina told her, redirecting the confused peds surgeon.

"Ok," Arizona followed. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see," Cristina replied, leading the attending to the exam room where she'd left Teddy.

Teddy looked up as Cristina came back, this time with Arizona. Cristina bringing Arizona could be good or bad.

"What's going on? "Arizona asked. She was confused as to what was going on since Teddy was sitting on an exam table.

"Teddy is pregnant," Cristina told them both. "And I figured there would be hugging and giggling and whatnot. I don't do that."

Teddy stared at her. "You're serious? I'm pregnant?"

"Yep. You're going to have a little Army Barbie or Mini McSteamy running around."

Arizona grinned a big grin and hugged her best friend. "Teddy this is awesome! I'm so happy for you."

Teddy hugged her back, surprised but smiling widely.

Cristina couldn't help smiling, too. "You're probably about six or seven weeks along based on your last period." She stayed where she was, a foot or so away from the exam table. She and Teddy were friends but she only got excited over babies if they were Meredith's… or her own maybe.

"Thank you, Cristina," Teddy smiled at her after Arizona let go of her.

Cristina smiled back, "No problem. Go tell McSteamy he's going to be a McDaddy."


	3. Chapter 3

This chapter is kinda short but it's cute. Phoebe rocks my socks for betaing – among other things.

Enjoy

* * *

Teddy left the exam room only to be paged to the pit. She spent the next few hours in surgery. By the time she was done, Mark was in his own surgery – she checked the board.

She had to go into another surgery before Mark was down with his. By the time she finished he had gone home so she got changed, signed off on a few things, and headed home herself.

When Teddy got home, it seemed like the Chinese take out had just arrived. The smell met her as she came in the front door. She dropped her keys in the basket, set her purse on the floor by the stairs and set off to the kitchen hoping to find her husband there.

She found him standing at the island counter scrolling through his phone.

"Hey," she smiled, making her way over to him.

He looked up with a smile and put his phone down, "Hey, I was just about to call you. You're feeling better, I take it." He kissed he softly when she reached him.

She had spent all day trying to meet up with him at some point only for one of them to be in surgery and she hadn't had a chance to actually come up with a way to tell him about the baby. She was just so excited and knew he would be too.

So she just blurted it out.

"I'm pregnant!"

Mark blinked, his brain taking a moment to process that information.

Then his face broke out into a big smile. "You're pregnant?" She nodded in response. "Like we're going to have a baby in nine months?"

"Well, I'm six or seven weeks now so slightly less than nine months, but yes," she giggled.

He laughed happily, wrapping his arms around her middle, and hugged her, picking her up slightly as he did so. She laughed and looped her arms around his neck. He set her down then kissed her, softly at first, then harder as she deepened the kiss. Their tongues met and wrestled briefly before she pulled back from the kiss.

She rested her forehead against his; he pushed some loose hair behind her ear.

"Now we have to get a dog," he told her. "A kid needs a dog."

She smirked. "I like that logic."


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry it took so long to post this chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

A few days after Teddy told Mark she was (finally) pregnant, he came home with a light purple gift bag with blue and pink tissue paper sticking out the top.

"What's this?" she asked excitedly when he joined her in the family room.

"It's for you." He smiled, sitting next to her on the couch. He handed her the bag. "Well, part of is for the baby."

Teddy grinned at him before pulling out the first layer of tissue paper. She pulled out a long, thin box and opened it. Inside was a necklace – a medium sized silver heart on a silver chain.

"Mark, it's beautiful." She smiled at him and took it out of the box. "Put it on me?"

"Sure." He took the necklace and she turned around and lifted her hair so that he could do up the clasp.

She turned to face him again. "How does it look?"

"Perfect." He smiled then nodded to the bag. "Open the rest."

"Ok!"

Teddy pulled out the rest of the contents and unwrapped the tissue paper from the small, soft bundle revealing light green fabric. She unfolded it to reveal a tiny set of scrubs.

She looked at him with a grin. "This is perfect! Thank you, I love both gifts." She leaned over and kissed him.

Boy or girl, they were having a little surgeon.

MTMTMTMTMTMT

At 13 weeks pregnant, the morning sickness had finally subsided. Teddy enjoyed being able to wake up and lay in Mark's arms before they had to get up.

Mark stretched and wrapped his arms around her.

"What do you want for breakfast?" He asked, kissing her shoulder.

"Waffles. And olives." She giggled at how weird that sounded together.

"Olives?" He chuckled.

She nodded, turning in his arms to face him. "Yes. I really, really want olives. And chocolate syrup."

"You have interesting cravings. Waffles with olives and chocolate syrup?"

Teddy grinned. "Yes, please."

He kissed her softly and lingeringly. "Waffles, olives, and chocolate syrup it is."

MTMTMTMTMTMT

Earlier in the day, Teddy had an ultrasound. At 18 weeks, she and Mark wanted to find out the sex of the baby. She thought it was a girl and he, of course, thought it was a boy.

Mark was not the least bit disappointed when they were told they were having a girl.

Now, after dinner, they at on the couch with the laptop and a baby name book they borrowed from Meredith looking up names.

"Chloe," Mark suggested, looked at the baby name website.

"No…Olivia?" She countered.

"Is that because you've been craving olives?" He chuckled. "Olivia makes me think of those books with the pig. Ella?"

"That sounds too old." She flipped though the book. "Alexis?"

Mark chuckled. "Karev would claim we named her after him. What about Lily?"

"I don't want to name her after a plant. Taylor?"

"Nancy has a daughter named Taylor."

They each continued searching through the baby names.

"What do you think about Madelyn?" Mark asked after they searched in silence for a while.

Teddy looked up from the book. "Madelyn. I like it."

"Madelyn Eve," he said, looking over to see her reaction.

She smiled at him. "Really?" Eve was the name of her best friend who loved birds.

"Yeah." He returned the smile. "She was important to you and I want her to live on somehow."

Teddy's smiled got bigger. "Ok then. Madelyn Eve Sloan."

MTMTMTMTMTMT

Mark and Teddy were lounging on their bed one lazy Saturday afternoon. On her right, Mark propped his head up on this hand next to Teddy's 22-week baby bump. Her shirt was pushed up, uncovering her belly and Mark was tracing patterns over her skin with his fingertips. Teddy slowly ran her fingers through his hair.

"I think she's sleeping." She smiled. Mark had been wanting to feel the baby kick for the past couple of weeks.

"Of course she is," he replied, putting his hand flat on her rounded belly to the left of her belly button. "She's sneaky like that. Plotting against me."

"Yeah," Teddy replied sarcastically with a laugh. "Our daughter is messing with you so that you won't feel her kick."

Mark chuckled. "I know! The bean is so –"

He trailed off as she felt a kick against his hand.

Teddy grinned, watching the smile grow on his face.

"She just…" He glanced up at his wife.

"Yes she did." She ran her fingers through his hair again.

He turned his head back to her bump and placed a kiss to the right of where his hand lay.

"Hey there, Madelyn."

MTMTMTMTMTMT

Arizona and Teddy were hanging out for the day at Mark and Teddy's house. Teddy was on maternity leave as her due date was in the next couple of days and she was bored with being home alone.

The two blondes were in the nursery putting away the baby clothes from their shopping expedition that day – Teddy had to get out and Arizona wanted to buy some things for her 'niece'. They spent a while at the mall, going to various stores, getting some food, and walking around and talking.

"This onesie is adorable." Arizona grinned, holding up a magenta onesie with white writing that read 'Daddy's spoiled princess'.

Teddy smiled. "And so true."

"Oh, definitely," laughed the perky blonde and she folded and put away more of the new clothes as Teddy headed, presumable, for another bathroom break.

"Arizona?" Teddy called from the bathroom, her voice just a tad higher than normal.

"Yeah?" She called back.

"How do you feel about going to the hospital on your day off?"

Arizona put down the clothes and went into the hall. "Do you mean?"

"My water just broke."


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry it's been ages since I updated this! Chaper 5. The last two will be up soon.

MTMTMT

Mark sat in the chair next to Teddy's bed, the small newborn in his arms. The last wave of visitors finally left an hour ago and Teddy was now sleeping. Twenty hours earlier he had gotten a page during surgery from Arizona when she and Teddy had gotten to the hospital.

MTMTMTMTMTMT

He finished the surgery, let the resident close, scrubbed out and went to join Teddy in her room. Even though her water broke, she wasn't yet dilated enough to push. A few hours of contractions had started wearing on Teddy and Mark could tell it was getting harder for her.

Teddy did not want an epidural. She heard all about natural childbirth and an epidural sounded like a good idea but she just decided against it. Well, for this baby anyway. There was something about going through the entire process and having the full experience. Mark didn't quite understand it but he supported whatever she wanted to do even though he hated seeing Teddy in pain.

She was admitted after 5:00 that evening and six hours later she still hadn't progressed enough to start pushing.

The OB checked the dilation. "You're 5 centimeters dilated, halfway. And if you want, you can get an epidural."

Teddy looked at Mark. He twisted her ponytail with his fingers. "There's nothing wrong with getting one. I know you wanted to do it without an epidural its six hours in and you still have 5 more centimeters to go."

She nodded, "This hurts a lot more than I ever imagined it would and I don't think I can be in the frame of mind I need to be for her later if this…" she trailed off and squeezed his hand, doing the Lamaze breathing as a contraction interrupted her. She continued when it passed, "if this is using up all my energy and concentration."

"I understand that," he gave her a supportive smile, "Do you what you think is right for you."

She smiled back and turned back to the OB, "I want an epidural."

"Okay," the doctor smiled, "I'll page the anesthesiologist and we'll get you comfortable."

After her epidural, Teddy was able to relax, the contractions just feeling like pressure. She fell asleep around midnight, as did Mark, knowing he wouldn't get much sleep after this was all over.

A little after 6am, epidural in effect, Teddy was finally completely dilated and fully effaced and was told to start pushing.

A few hours later, a sweaty, tired, but happy Teddy was given her squirming, crying daughter and Mark cut the umbilical cord. Baby Madelyn was taken to be checked out, weighed, measured, and given a bath before she was returned, swaddled in a light pink blanket, to her mommy's arms.

Teddy smiled tiredly at her baby, staring into her blue eyes while stroking Madelyn's soft cheek. She was absolutely mesmerized by this tiny person.

Mark rested his chin on Teddy's shoulder and put his finger in Madelyn's little hand, smiling as she grasped it reflexively.

"Look at what we did," he whispered in amazement.

Teddy nodded, "She has so much hair already," she replied, "Its dark just like her daddy's."

He grinned, "Well it looks like she's taking after her mommy in looks."

The lactation nurse came by not long after her birth and talked with Teddy about breastfeeding, walking her through nursing, and having Teddy give Madelyn her first meal. They had some more time alone with Madelyn before people started popping in to visit the newest addition to the hospital family.

MTMTMTMTMT

Mark remembered being enthralled by Sloan's son, his grandson, after he was born but as much as he wanted to keep the little boy, he knew they had to go through with the adoption so he didn't let himself fall completely and utterly in love with the baby like he had with his new daughter.

Madelyn Eve Sloan was four hours old and had her parents and 'aunts' and 'uncles' under her spell.

He slumped down in the chair a little bit and shifted Madelyn so that she was lying on the left side of his chest with his left arm curled around her holding her in place. His right hand slowly rubbed up and down her back. She was in the perfect spot for him to watch her expression as she slept.

Mark didn't know how long he sat like that for before he heard someone come into the room. He turned to see Owen walk in.

"Hey," Mark greeted his friend.

"Hey," he replied. "I got pulled into surgery first thing this morning and I finally got away. Congratulations."

Mark smiled, "Thanks."

Owen grabbed the other chair in the room and carried it over to where Mark's chair was next to Teddy's bed.

"Cristina told me she was in labor for sixteen hours," Owen said, sitting in his chair.

"Yeah," Mark nodded, "She got to sleep for most of the night though, after she changed her mind about the epidural. Madelyn Eve was born at 9:23 this morning. She is 7 pounds and 11 ounces and 19 inches long. Do you want to hold her?"

Owen grinned, "Yes!" he scooted forward in the chair while Mark sat up.

Mark passed the still sleeping baby to her 'uncle', always careful to support her head then sat back in his chair.

Owen leaned back in the chair, Madelyn in his arms, still sleeping, one arm bent so that her hand was next to her face.

"I remember when Dylan was this little," Owen remarked, referring to Meredith and Derek's son, "It's hard to believe he's almost two years old."

"I know," agreed Mark, "Meredith and Teddy were talking about setting them up on dates when they're older. They said it would be cute. But, Madelyn isn't dating until she's 25."

Owen chuckled, "She has to be 25 to date?"

"It was 30," the sleeping baby's father replied.

"It will be 16," mumbled Teddy decisively, they had talked about this before. She turned on to her right side to face them, "Hey, Owen."

"Hey. Madelyn is beautiful," he smiled at the baby.

"Thanks. Your wife decided that Madelyn is going to be a cardio god when she grows up," Teddy propped her head up on her arm, "Madelyn didn't disagree."

Mark laughed, "She's a few hours old. How is she going to disagree about her future career choice dictation?"

"Crying," Teddy replied, "Cristina said she didn't cry so she agreed. I like her logic."

Owen smirked and watched the baby sleep for a moment. "I think Cristina is changing her mind about kids."

"Oh?" Mark asked. The last he heard, Owen told him Cristina didn't want kids.

"With Dylan and now Madelyn, I think she's warming up to the idea."

"She's finding out they're not so bad. Dylan adores her and she was totally taken by Madelyn," Teddy explained to the guys, "Kids are a scary thing, even when you want them; even scarier when you're not sure. She's gotten to see what its like. She loves Dylan and Maddie and she sees that it's possible to be a mom and be a successful neurosurgeon like Meredith or still be a cardio god with an adorable little baby."

"Have you two talked about this?" Owen asked, knowing they'd grown much closer since Teddy first arrived.

"No. But I've known Cristina for almost 4 years now. I've hung out with her and Meredith and Dylan and she's been more hands-on with him. Plus she asked quite a few questions about what I was doing after Maddie was born."

Owen nodded. "That's very Cristina of her; researching and asking questions and having some experience before doing anything."

"Exactly. And when she was in here earlier holding Madelyn she had the look of confidence she gets when she goes to do a surgery on her own for the first time," Teddy smiled, "I told her she'd be a good mom and she didn't say anything sarcastic."

Mark chuckled, "always a good sign."

"That's true," Owen smiled. He then carefully stood, Madelyn still sleeping in his arms, "I need to get back to work. I'm afraid to leave the interns in the pit for too long."

Teddy sat up, resting against the pillows, "I'll take her," she held out her arms wanting her baby girl.

Owen transferred the baby to her mommy, told her and Mark he'd seem them later, congratulating them once again on their newly expanded family and headed out of the room.

Teddy looked over to see her husband watching her and Madelyn with adoration. She carefully scooted over in the bed, smiling at him.

"Come sit with us," she told him.

He grinned and stood up, joining her on the bed, getting comfortable with her on the small space. He put his left arm over her shoulders and they sat together, spending some quiet time with their new baby.


	6. Chapter 6

I hate remembering to update fics. You get the last two chapters today.

MTMTMTMTMT

Arizona and Callie got to Mark and Teddy's house early one Saturday afternoon. Teddy answered the door with a smile.

"Hey you two," she hugged Callie and then Arizona, "come on in."

Teddy closed the door once Callie and Arizona entered.

"Where's Caleb?" she asked her friends as they headed over to the bassinet by the couch.

Arizona peered in to see her favorite niece awake and carefully picked her up. "He's at a friend's house. They're having a sleepover!"

"Oh that'll be fun for him," Teddy smiled, "I can't believe he's 6 already!"

"I can't believe she's 5 weeks old already," replied Callie. She reached for Madelyn and Arizona moved away with a grin.

"You get to spend all day with her. Its my turn."

"Fine," Callie replied before turning to Teddy, "Yeah, it seems like we just adopted him and now he's so big!"

"I know!" Agreed Teddy, "And he did so well with Madelyn. Are you guys going to adopt another one?"

"We're talking about it," Arizona replied with a grin, not looking up from the baby in her arms.

"And Caleb seems to like the idea of having a little brother or sister," added Callie, "after he plays with Maddie or Dylan he asks when he can have his own baby."

"That is adorable!" Teddy gushed.

Callie gave her a big smile, "I know!"

"He asks if we can go to the baby store," giggled Arizona.

Mark joined them finally, his hair almost dry after his shower. "Who wants to go to the baby store?"

"Caleb," Callie told him, "for a baby brother or sister."

He chuckled, "that's pretty much what you two do. That's cute."

"Awww," Arizona said to Madelyn, "your daddy said cute."

Mark laughed, "When are you and Teddy headed out for your spa afternoon of fun?" He asked, using their name for the outing.

Teddy checked the time, "We should leave now actually." She went to Arizona and softly kissed Madely's cheek, "Have fun with Daddy and Aunt Callie, Maddie."

"Oh she will," grinned Callie, holding out her arms again for the baby. "Its my turn now."

Arizona handed the one month old off to Callie. "I expect to get her back when we return."

"We'll see," Callie grinned.

"Oh, we will," countered Arizona before giving Callie a quick kiss.

After kissing the baby, Teddy kissed Mark lingeringly. "Have fun."

"You too. Get all girly and...stuff."

Teddy laughed, "Ok. I will get all girly and stuff."

MTMTMTMTMT

Callie picked up Madelyn as she started crying, "What's wrong little girl?"

"She's hungry," Mark told her, "I'll get her bottle ready."

She followed him into the kitchen with Madelyn, "Look at you! You know what she wants."

Mark smiled, getting a bottle from the fridge, "She has different cries. Teddy caught on faster but I know what she wants now," he put the bottle into the microwave for a few seconds.

"I wanna feed her," Callie announced.

"I thought you would," he tested the bottle when it was done and handed it to her.

Callie offered Madelyn the bottle and she took it right away, "Woah chiquita," she laughed.

Mark smiled, "she likes to eat."

"I can see that," she smiled at the baby then up at her friend, "you're great at this dad thing."

He shrugged, "It can be really hard. Teddy is amazing. She just knows things. I love watching her with Madelyn."

Callie grinned, happy that her best friend was so happy.


	7. Chapter 7

Mark answered the door with Madelyn in his arms. He knew who it was and part of him hoped this person wouldn't show up.

"Hi dad," Mark greeted the visitor.

"Mark," his father nodded, "This must be Madelyn."

"Yep that's her," Mark confirmed.

"Are you going to let me in?" he asked, "thought you had better manners than that."

Mark ignored the last comment and invited his father in, closing the door behind him.

"We can head to the family room, its a little messy but Mads likes her play-mat," Mark explained leading the Elder Sloan though the house to the family room.

"Where's your wife?" he asked, taking a seat on the couch.

Mark sat down on the other end of the couch after passing Madelyn to her grandfather, "She just got home from an emergency surgery. She's in the shower and she'll be down soon."

He looked up from the baby, "She's back to work already?"

"Yeah," Mark nodded, "she went back two weeks ago when Madelyn was 6 weeks old. The hospital has a great day care and we can see her whenever we want."

Teddy joining them cut off any remark from Mark's father. Her hair was mostly dry in waves around her face and she was wearing jeans and a light blue long sleeved shirt.

"Hey babe," Mark smiled, his eyes lighting up as they always did when he saw her, "Teddy, this is my father, Robert. Dad, this is my beautiful wife, Teddy."

"Teddy...what is that short for?" Robert asked.

"Theodora," Teddy sat in the chair adjacent to the couch, "I'm named after my grandmother."

"Its a strong name," said Robert, approvingly, "Mark, are you still doing breast implants or whatever it is plastic surgeons do these days?"

"Yeah, its one of the procedures I do. I actually had a 10 hour facial reconstruction yesterday."

"Madelyn and I watched the very end," Teddy smiled, "Well, I watched while she slept."

Mark smiled at her, "I noticed. Mads was learning though diffusion?"

"Oh definitely," she grinned, "Although, she was awake when you had her in the gallery during my valve repair the other day. I told you she's going into cardio."

Mark laughed, "We'll see."

"You take her around the hospital with you?" Robert asked, not happy with that.

"Yes. Everyone loves her so we take her out of daycare for lunch and whoever is finished first for the day gets her," explained Mark.

Madelyn interrupted the adults when she started to cry.

"Ut-oh, I think she needs to be changed," Teddy announced.

"Sounds like it," Mark stood up, "I can change her."

"You?" Robert raised his eyebrows.

"Yes, me," Mark picked up Madelyn from his father and headed upstairs, talk to her as he went.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Teddy turned to Robert.

"What do you want?"

He looked at her confused, "What do you mean?"

"He spent his entire childhood ignored by his parents and thinking he wasn't good enough. He became a surgeon to try and impress you and thank god he gave up trying to impress you," Teddy ranted, "He is a good man, a great surgeon and an amazing father and husband with no thanks to you. My entire pregnancy he was worried he was going to be just like you, that he'd ignore her or spend too much time at work. I told him because he was worried about it, it wouldn't happen.

Teddy continued, "He loves her so much and he loves me. I'm so lucky to have him in my life and to have a child with him. He is so great at his job and he's at the top of his field. He's happy, we're happy. He doesn't need you coming in and belittling everything that he's proud of so accept him for who he is or get out of my house."

Robert took in everything she was saying and nodded, "I apologize. I'm glad he's happy."

Mark returned with a now happy baby and returned her to Robert. "She's happy now."

Robert smiled, "You married quite a spit fire."

"Don't I know it," he smiled at his wife, "keeps me in line."

MTMTMT

His father was more pleasant after what Teddy said to him and he adored Madelyn.

They heard the door open and close and a feminine voice call, "Dad?"

"We're in here," he called back.

Sloan soon appeared and sat on the arm rest of the chair Teddy was sitting on.

"Hi stepmom," she greeted Teddy.

"Hey, Sloan."

"Who is this?" she motioned to Robert.

Mark hid his smirk, "This is my father, and he'd be your grandfather. Dad, this is my daughter Sloan Riley."

"Oh cool. Nice to meet you," Sloan beamed.

Robert turned to Mark, "You have another daughter?"

"Yeah," Sloan replied, "I was a little bit of a mistake that he didn't know about until 4 years ago, but he loves me anyway."

Teddy smiled at her, "You have such an interesting way of putting things."

Mark chuckled, "What brings you by?"

"Uh, how would you like a live-in babysitter for about a week?" she grinned, trying to look cute so they'd say yes.

"What's going on?" Teddy asked, "Is everything alright?"

"Oh yeah, its fine. They just have to spray for...something, I don't remember, at my apartment building and we have to be gone for a week."

"If you just let us pay for your apartment then you would be living in a nicer place," Mark told her.

Sloan nodded, "But then what would that teach me about responsibility?" She had definitely changed since she gave birth to and gave up her baby.

"She's stubborn like you," Robert told them.

"I know," Mark replied.

"Am I staying here?" Sloan asked, scooting down to share the big chair with Teddy.

"Of course you are," Teddy replied, putting her arm around Sloan, "For as long as you need."

"Awesome. Thanks."

"You seem to get along well with your stepmother," Robert noted.

"Yeah," Sloan nodded, "she's pretty awesome. She's not annoying like Lexie, she's a lot more older than me, she delivered my baby in dad's apartment so that's pretty awesome and she wants all the same things dad wants so they don't fight and she doesn't mind when I'm around."

Mark hoped his father could just ignore the fact his daughter just announced that she had had a baby to the man who was most critical of him.

His hopes were not realized.

"She...delivered your baby?"

Sloan nodded, "My mom, in New York, kicked me out when I got pregnant at 18. So, I came looking for my dad. It was complicated and I left but I came back when I was in labor and Teddy was there and she was calm and stuff while dad freaked out," she laughed softly, "that was funny, dad, did you freak out when Mads was born?"

"No because she was born in a hospital," Mark replied.

Sloan contemplated this, "Yeah you would have freaked if you had to deliver her here...and Teddy couldn't have done it herself. Good work having her in the hospital, Teddy," she laughed.

Teddy laughed, "Thank you."

Robert looked over at Mark who was laughing at his wife and daughter. "You have very interesting women in your life."

Mark smiled, "I certainly do."

And he wouldn't change it for the world.


End file.
